Finished Witcher 1; have I mentioned how much I like the conclusion to the final boss fight? There he is, the big villain, about to get slain and as he knocks away my steel sword I simply draw the silver one to finish him off, and he says: "That sword is for monsters!" Yeah, exactly.

Depending upon which quests you completed, there's even an added bonus to the moral: my silver sword is the Aerondight, given to me by the Lady of the Lake as she made me one of her righteous knights - and that's the sword I used to kill the bad guy. Very apt.

In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill.

I just finished Witcher 1 again as well. When I first played through it all those years ago I had thought it was a great game, but now I don't feel so anymore. There're just a lot of weaknesses: inventory management is annoying as hell, lack of equipment progression, and plot holes (especially the "random" Chapter 4). The choices are not that hard either. Still good, but not great.

I wound up using a save editor to make potions + give some extra levels (I'd already ground 1+ levels in chapter 1 and got bored). I might play through again, on the last path.

I'm a hypocrite because I suggested that all life is sacred and should not be wasted without good reason.

I started with W1, then W2, then W3. Liked the latter so much I played it twice. Then I recently replayed the whole series again, taking a different story path. Probably won't play W1-2 again, but W3 I probably will.

In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Goodwill.

I tried playing the first one and got a bit annoyed by the fighting mechanics. Didn't feel like trying again. So, I winded up playing W3 really first, then bought W2, but haven't started it yet. I still didn't finish W3. I'll finish it, then I'll play W2 and W3, but I'm not really inclined at playing W1.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

Took me a hundred hours but I eventually finished The Witcher 3. Great game, very intriguing with loads of memorable characters. The day I finished it I actually had some trouble sleeping that night because I was thinking about the fates of some of the people.

Many of the quests & dialogue were very well-written too. Some quests involve heavy moral decisions, as to be expected in a game like this, but others are just great fun. Some especially memorable ones are: commiserating with Djikstra about falling in love with sorceresses; the "No Place Like Home" drinking party with Eskel and Lambert; the quest late in the game visiting the people who helped Ciri out (it's a wonderful breath of fresh air after dealing with not-so-honest people the entire game), and the various quests with plot twists that, in hindsight, I should have seen coming - in particular the one involving Annabelle & the mysterious killer who tortures people. The "It Takes Three to Tango" quest, involving romancing both Yennefer & Triss, is also very funny.

And then there are quests which just don't have an easy choice (the one that closes the Baron's storyline, for example). Poor guy (and his wife & daughter). One of the choices near the end, whether to let Ciri talk to Phillipa & Margarita alone, was also pretty amusing. I let Ciri go alone, in part because she's an adult, and also in part because I was sick of making choices that had unintended consequences. If she goes alone, what happens will be on her not me

There are a few annoyances, but quite minor. I mostly disliked Roach. I might have been spoiled by Guild Wars 2's mount system, but it's still way more convenient. Often I would summon Roach, but I'd have to backtrack to get to him, plus sometimes he just isn't very maneuverable. Actually even maneuvering Geralt can be annoying. I probably died more times to fall damage than to enemy damage. One region of the game (Skellige) also feels padded, since there're so many markers that're just smuggler's caches. And then there are minor annoyances: having to repair stuff, weighty items, higher difficulties making vitality not auto-regenerate on meditation, and so on, don't do anything other than make the game a little more frustrating to play.

Also with a plot this complex there are bound to be plot holes. Some I noticed are below. Still, what to do, the plot is complex.

[spoiler]- How on Earth did Ciri stop the White Frost?- If Ciri is a witcher (and my Geralt said she is during the epilogue), she's also infertile. What's with trying to get her to bear children to carry on the Elder blood then?- How can Djikstra be so confident he can triumph over Nilfgaard in a war? Besides, how is he even going to assume command of the North? Presumably Redania would have a succession order that wouldn't involve him.- I reached an ending where Ciri became the Empress of Nilfgaard. Under those circumstances I would have no qualms about making Temeria a Nilfgaard protectorate, because I trust Ciri.- How did Nilfgaardian ships show up in force in the final battle? Where'd they come from? We weren't expecting them, were we?- For all the effort we went to recruit Fringilla, Margarita, etc, they play an astonishingly small role in the final battle. Comparatively the Battle of Kaer Morhen was much better done. It's equally surprising Keira doesn't join that battle, if she survived.- In TW2 Geralt clearly said that specters cannot be slain, only driven away, which is why he traded himself for Yennefer ... yet we were killing Wild Hunt at the end of the game (who weren't even specters).- Rather nonsensical how Eredin can be baited twice by Geralt. Especially after the first time, it's surprising he fell for it so smoothly the second time.- Also surprising why Eredin didn't just mount another attack on Kaer Morhen after the first battle. Surely it can't take that long to recover their losses, especially without the Yennefer shield.[/spoiler]

Overall the game was great fun. I fully expect to play it again in the future - just not yet, especially since there're still two expansions to finish. Even without the expansions, 100 hours of playtime made it very worth the money.

I'm a hypocrite because I suggested that all life is sacred and should not be wasted without good reason.

I was wondering, is the TV series finished yet, or are more episodes yet to come? I'd like to watch it all in one sitting or something as close to it as possible as I'm a huge fan of the book and game series.

I don't know how it was released, all season at once? It all depends on how good the reception will be, I guess. As far as I know, it was very well produced, following the storyline of the book and using the looks from the game.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

I heard from Witcher players/readers that there were some plot discrepancies in the TV series.Not bothered by any such knowledge, this is the first I experienced the binge watch phenomenon Great acting, awesome atmosphere, intriguing plot. Can't wait for the next season!

Yes, that dragon part was a bit so-so. I am now reading books to understand a bit of the story, given that I only played the third game (just finished it also, btw ). And coincidentaly, I have just got to the second book, where the dragon-guy pops up suddenly, and his two Zarrakanian female warriors.

Discrepancies are here and there. They focused a lot the storytelling around the origins of Yennefer and Cirilla, in addition to Geralt's, which are subdued and only slightly referred in the books (Yennefer, for example, the only mention about her past so far was: "her angry eyes, through her eyes he saw her beyond the years, a hunchback"). Not a mention regarding her attempt to get the Djinn for her physical disability though, not at that moment. Yennefer first meeting with Geralt is retold almost at the end of the first book, but you know she has this issue because it's told before their retold story.

Quite nice a reading.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

Probably some languages might have a hard time with idioms or so. Aside from having to read the bard's name Dandilion instead of Dandelion (Jackier being another bard and both of them got merged into a single character in TV series – but originally Dandelion being the one true Geralt's friend), it doesn't seem that bad. As I cannot read Polish, I cannot really compare.

I will not try reading in Portuguese. They tend to try to Portuganese stuff, names, spells which would sound pretty awful to bear.

I am enjoying the books so far, in spite of any translation draw backs. Just finished that dragon arc. Another character which was introduced too early on TV was Zoltan, the foul mouthed ginger dwarf of the series. In the books, he is nowhere to be seen yet, for his role in that Dragon affair was taken by other dwarves – the whole dragon event was quite different in the books; might be something book fans did not enjoy. I don't know if Zoltan will become acquaintance or if they he already knows Geralt and will eventually meet each other later on.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

Here's he's called Marigold (CZ) and in PL original is his name Jaskier. It's just one bard. The name is being translated by one part of its meaning, which is captured differently in a different languages. Such is the problem with bards.

Strangely Ciri and Geralt, are still the same.

Books are better, serie is already closed, so you don't need to fear of yeat another part. They are easy to read. And what I'm saying, Poland is almost behind the corner from here.

Marigold? But Marigold is the rest of the name of the sorceress Triss. Triss Marigold. They named him like that? Hm, so I think the first book was translated like Dandilion and now it is Jaskier. Very odd. The storyline, now that you mention it, is getting pretty confused. In the first book, Geralt already knows Dandelion and they both get to meet Yennefer for the first time together, with the matter of that Djinn. In this second book, Geralt and the dragon-old-guy meet Jaskier at a blockade and he mentions Yennefer as if he didn't quite know her. Dandelion didn't remember exactly how he was saved by Yennefer, so I wonder if that's the situation there, which was also why I thought Dandelion and Jaskier were different bards. And considering the game where Dandelion is that bard's name, whilst Jaskier were the TV name, I imagined they could be two different bards, given there are multiple sorceress, witchers and whanot.

I fear getting my eyes on a Portuguese version. I am almost expecting Ciri to become Maria and Geralt, José. Dandelion would be literally Dente-de-Leão.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

Link explains his story. He is cousin of one Ferrant of Lettenhove, tells a bit about his graduation at Oxenfurt, his songs, his flirts, including the one with Henrietta and how he started writing his memories whilst traveling with Geralt de Rívia.

From the list of characters in that same website, I can see that they didn't translate proper names, only those that might mean something else, like Borch Três-Gralhas, or Comecabras. Funny thing the first time I saw Dudu in the Witcher 3 game. Dudu is a nickname here, short form of Eduardo.

In my language:

Marigold – CalêndulaDandelion – Dente-de-leãoJaskier – Ranúnculo

Thank god they kept it Dandelion!

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

This time I played W3, I didn't kill Keira, recruited Letho and Roche. Just the emperor and Djkstra were SoBs and didn't come to help fight the Wild Hunt. Before going fighting them, I went playing Blood and Wine, thinking that we could also ask for aid from Regis or Henrietta. Not that fighting the Hunt would be difficult by then after reaching lv 36 or 37. It was mainly to see how they would help in the fight.

Then, for my dismay, Geralt was talking to Regis and the latter asked how was Ciri, and Geralt promptly says that she's ok and that they defeated the Wild Hunt together. Which we didn't. Soooooooooooooo, I went back to the main story to kill that damned Wild Hunt to make sense of the rest of the Expansion Pack. I also played Heart of Stone before B&W hoping Olgierd to join the fray against the Hunt. Again, nothing was mentioned regarding the Hunt and he simply vanished. Didn't try to find him either.

Now, I am mostly going to try and get some witcher sets and see if I get the courage to visit all "?" around the maps. Every time I go to Skellige and see all those question marks spread through the seas, my skin creeps.

"There’s nothing to fear but fear itself and maybe some mild to moderate jellification of bones." Cave Johnson, Portal 2.

Lol wimfrits. Binge watching has happened a bit too often for me that starting to watch a TV series takes an active decision, because once I start it'll be hard to stop.

Panda Tar wrote:This time I played W3, I didn't kill Keira, recruited Letho and Roche. Just the emperor and Djkstra were SoBs and didn't come to help fight the Wild Hunt. Before going fighting them, I went playing Blood and Wine, thinking that we could also ask for aid from Regis or Henrietta. Not that fighting the Hunt would be difficult by then after reaching lv 36 or 37. It was mainly to see how they would help in the fight.

Then, for my dismay, Geralt was talking to Regis and the latter asked how was Ciri, and Geralt promptly says that she's ok and that they defeated the Wild Hunt together. Which we didn't. Soooooooooooooo, I went back to the main story to kill that damned Wild Hunt to make sense of the rest of the Expansion Pack. I also played Heart of Stone before B&W hoping Olgierd to join the fray against the Hunt. Again, nothing was mentioned regarding the Hunt and he simply vanished. Didn't try to find him either.

Now, I am mostly going to try and get some witcher sets and see if I get the courage to visit all "?" around the maps. Every time I go to Skellige and see all those question marks spread through the seas, my skin creeps.

Well Blood and Wine, as far as I understand, takes place several years after the events of the first game. Hearts of Stone does have some interaction with the plot, though. You can ask Gaunter for help locating Ciri, for example, as well as talk to the art collector while Vesemir is still alive.

Skellige ?'s are annoying. They're mostly just loot spots, nothing else. That's why I wrote it feels padded. It can't be that Skellige has this many smugglers, can it?

I'm a hypocrite because I suggested that all life is sacred and should not be wasted without good reason.

Finally finished Blood & Wine, and with it the entire series. Great game. According to GOG I've played The Witcher 3 for 150 (!) hours, which is an incredible number for the price, and at some point I still have to play New Game +. Blood & Wine was also a good expansion with huge amounts of content, although it lacked that little bit of oomph to make it comparable to the original. In particular the original had slightly more interesting quests - I'm particularly fond of the ones where the people you meet are actively out to fool you (e.g. the Annabelle quest) and there's nothing of that sort in Blood & Wine. I also found the choices relatively easy. However the very final quest in Blood & Wine was superb, I really liked it even though it's just talking. It alone made me search up YouTube for what other things could have happened.

Aside from the above my major complaints about the expansion are all about the main quest & plot holes:

[spoilers]- Sometimes Geralt exhibits superhuman senses, other times he's completely ignorant (c.f. the quest A Portrait of the Witcher as an Old Man where a Grifin sneaks up on him in spite of his ostensibly superhuman hearing)- It wasn't guaranteed that the people in Dun Tyne were hostile. It could just be another lead. Yet instead of surrounding the castle and demanding surrender, we just storm it killing everyone in it. Further, why would Roderick shelter Syanna?- It's nonsense how Toussaint can spend no time preparing for the imminent attack after Detlaff threatens violence. They had three days. Surely they should've done something, like evacuate or prepare silver weapons.- That missing three days is also a weak point, I didn't know what Geralt & Regis were doing until afterwards, and surely they could've come up with a better idea than effectively nothing (such as by getting the Unseen Elder to summon Detlaff before the actual attack).- Speaking of which it doesn't make sense how Detlaff doesn't immediately kill Syanna, if he was planning to do so anyway. Or to even let Syanna go. Why not just grab her, go to Tesha Mutna and talk?- And it doesn't make sense why Detlaff doesn't raze Beauclair himself. Why send underlings if higher vampires are unstoppable?- And then there's the fact that Annarietta chose to fight Detlaff. If higher vampires are as unstoppable as Geralt knows them to be, she should know she can't win.- And removing Detlaff's head doesn't even kill Detlaff since he can regenerate ...- And if higher vampires are immortal, why do they care so much about mortal women? Mortal women die, immortals don't.- A final issue is, given the existence of Dopplers, how can anyone know someone they meet is actually that someone? It could be a Doppler. This looks like a major flaw in the universe to me. It's especially unfortunate since this was specifically mentioned in the main game.[/spoilers]

It's a pity there are plot holes, since the story is otherwise thought-provoking. Still, it was fun, and 150 hours played is 150 hours played.

I might play a New Game+ someday to go through the paths I didn't take in the original run. Has anyone tried it? I'm somewhat concerned that by not completing some quests (as I must for plot reasons), I will not get enough experience unless I turn down the difficulty (which I'm loath to do).